Kreegah Mangani
Help Needed to Save Great Apes BBC News ~ September 9, 2005
Ministers from 23 countries in Africa and south-east Asia have appealed for international help to save the world's great apes from extinction. Urgent action was needed to protect the great apes and provide sustainable ways of living for local communities, the UN-backed meeting in Kinshasa agreed. Poaching and damage to forest habitats have led gorilla, chimpanzee, bonobo and orangutan numbers to fall sharply.  Experts warn wild populations of great apes could disappear in a generation. . . .
Scientists at the conference identified more than 100 sites, most of them in Africa, where viable great ape populations could be saved from extinction by intensive conservation efforts. . . .

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Associated Press photo by J. Pat Carter 

Stolen Weissmuller Medals Returned
AP News ~ September 9, 2005
Fort Lauderdale, Florida: Eight Olympic gold medals won by swimmer Johnny Weissmuller have been returned to the International Swimming Hall of Fame Museum, along with other memorabilia allegedly taken by a maintenance worker. Mark Spitz, a seven-time swimming Olympic gold medalist and museum board member, took part in a ceremony Thursday to mark the return of about 150 medals, trophies and cups — including those won in 1924 by Weissmuller, who later gained even greater fame as the star of several "Tarzan" movies.

Paul Nichols Christow is charged with two counts of dealing in stolen property and two counts of grand theft over $100,000. Prosecutors said the 49-year-old used his unfettered access over several days to swipe the medals, valued at nearly $500,000, from the museum's collection. Because the medals were purchased (over the Internet) by people in good faith, Florida law required the museum to buy them back. When the museum couldn't come up with the cash, museum board member Dennis Carey of Scottsdale, Ariz., paid $15,000 for their return. Carey, a former English Channel swimmer, said the museum has now installed an updated alarm system.

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Brain May Still Be Evolving, Studies Hint 
By Nicholas Wade ~ New York Times ~ September 9, 2005
Two genes involved in determining the size of the human brain have undergone substantial evolution in the last 60,000 years, researchers say, leading to the surprising suggestion that the brain is still undergoing rapid evolution. The discovery adds weight to the view that human evolution is still a work in progress, since previous instances of recent genetic change have come to light in genes that defend against disease and confer the ability to digest milk in adulthood. It had been widely assumed until recently that human evolution more or less stopped 50,000 years ago. The new finding, reported in today's issue of Science by Bruce T. Lahn of the University of Chicago, and colleagues, could raise controversy because of the genes' role in determining brain size. New versions of the genes, or alleles as geneticists call them, appear to have spread because they enhanced brain function in some way, the report suggests, and they are more common in some populations than others. . . .

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Tarzan in NG
The September 2005 issue of National Geographic is an All-Africa issue focusing on many of the socio-political issues facing the continent (overpopulation, AIDS, wildlife conservation) as well as the wildlife. One page is devoted to an "African Quiz", 17 questions. Number One is: "In the Tarzan books by Edgar Rice Burroughs, where was the jungle the King of the Apes called home?" Accompanying the quiz is a photo of Johnny Weissmuller holding Maureen O'Sullivan who is wearing the longer leather mini-dress that had been adopted in the later films. The answer given is "West Africa" - which isn't a great help in pinpointing the actual location of Tarzan's cabin and mangani territory.

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Moving Tarzan Rocks!
Tarzan Rocks!, the popular show located in Disney's Animal Kingdom's Theater in the Wild, is set to close in January 2006. Elements from Tarzan Rocks! will be moved to Tokyo Disneyland for a similar show. Rumors of the replacement show have included a Jungle Book theme, a Finding Nemo show and Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

 
Those Amazing Thipdars!
Flying Reptiles Just Got Bigger
by Jonathan Amos ~ BBC News ~ September 8, 2005
Scientists are only now starting to recognise the astonishing size reached by pterosaurs, the flying reptiles that lived at the time of the dinosaurs. New discoveries in the Americas suggest some had wingspans of 18m (60ft). But there was nothing ugly about the way they moved through the air. Their ability to utilise air currents, thermals and ground effects would astonish aeroplane designers, said David Martill, of the University of Portsmouth. "Their skeletons were exceedingly light: their bones were very thin and hollow, and those hollows were filled with an air-sack system. They'd also got rid of their reptilian scales and their wing membrane was very, very thin. 
The oldest pterosaur fossils date back 220 million years. With their membranous wings attached to their legs, there was something bat-like about them, and their long beaks look like some bird species - but scientists stress they have no line to any living creatures. There is evidence from rare fossil eggs containing pterosaur embryos which suggests the creatures could fly soon after hatching. "We get to teenage years and we stop; but if a pterosaur kept on growing then the older it got, the bigger it got.  If this was the case, scientists say, it was a remarkable achievement because the wings would have had to have grown from just a few tens of centimetres in length to several metres without interrupting the animals flying capability. "The equivalent of an aircraft engineer trying to convert a Eurofighter into a jumbo jet while it was still flying," enthused Dr Marthill. 

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Hippie Mangani Sex Life
Sex might not be enough to save pygmy chimps Face extinction
by Mike Pflanz ~ The Daily Telegraph ~ September 8, 2005
NAIROBI - Pygmy chimpanzees known as "jungle hippies" for resolving conflicts through sex rather than fighting are hurtling toward extinction faster than any other primate, experts said. Bonobos are gentle creatures found only in the remote war-torn forests of Congo, that live in strictly matriarchal families and neither kill nor fight over territory. They also pair off for sex at the slightest hint of danger, stress or friction, earning them their hippy nicknames for "making love not war." They are among man's closest relatives and face the prospect of being the first great ape to be wiped from the planet. . . .
. . . "These are animals which search for peace whenever they sense danger, usually through approaching another and having sexual intercourse," Ms. Andre said yesterday. "Their habitat has been occupied and the post-conflict period has been even harder. I fear for what the situation is now." Conservationists at the conference have warned that gorillas, chimpanzees, orangutans and especially bonobos could be extinct within a single human generation.

© National Post 2005

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Today in Theatre History
September 7, 1922 The first stage adaptation of the Edgar Rice Burroughs novel Tarzan of the Apes is a hit at the Broadhurst Theatre, adapted by namesake George Broadhurst himself and starring Ronald Adair  as Tarzan, Alfred Arno as Kerchak and Ethel Dwyer as Jane Porter. 

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You Tarzan, Me Robinson Crusoe
BBC Suffolk ~ August 24, 2005
The Theatre Royal at Bury St Edmunds has announced a change to its Christmas pantomime because of a problem with the performing rights for Tarzan. This year’s production will now be Robinson Crusoe – A Jungle Pantomime. 
The problem with the performing rights to the story of Tarzan means that the Theatre has been effectively prevented from using either the name Tarzan or any of the original elements of the story.
. . . Theatre Director Colin Blumenau remains upbeat about the prospects: "Audiences need not be concerned about the change of title – we still have plenty of time to ensure that all the elements which they have come to expect and appreciate in our Christmas shows will be contained within this year’s production.”
Robinson Crusoe – A Jungle Pantomime runs from Thursday 8th December 2005 until Sunday 8th January 2006. Tickets are now on sale from the Theatre Royal Box Office, tel: 01284 769505.

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Jolie, Pitt visit Phil Currie's Alberta's dinosaur exhibit
Associated Press ~ August 23, 2005
CALGARY, Alberta -- While preparing to star in a movie about an old West bad man, Hollywood superstar Brad Pitt dug up some action over the weekend in Alberta's Badlands.  Wendy Taylor, a spokeswoman for the renowned Royal Tyrrell Museum near Drumheller, said the actor and companion Angelina Jolie dropped in for a tour of the dinosaur exhibits Saturday night, and was very gracious and accommodating, the Calgary Sun reported Tuesday.
Pitt is in Calgary to shoot the film "The Assassination of Jesse James," which gets under way in the western province on Aug. 29. "They arrived around 7 p.m. and stayed for an hour," Taylor said, adding Jolie's adopted son, four-year-old Maddox, was enthralled by the T-Rex exhibit. During their tour, the pair was accompanied by two bodyguards and a museum staffer. "The only unfortunate thing was that word leaked out and quite a crowd collected outside the main entrance, so we had to find an alternate exit for them." The couple visited the gift shop, bought toys for the kids and left. "They are both very down-to-earth people and most appreciative. Our staff members were very impressed at how nice they were."
© The Associated Press 2005

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The new Official Website of the Burroughs Bibliophiles is now up and running:
www.BurroughsBibliophiles.com

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Swiss take to swinging like Tarzan 
IOL.co.za ~ South Africa / ananova.com ~ September 5, 2005
Bern - A new extreme sport which involves swinging Tarzan-style from tree-to-tree is the latest craze to hit Switzerland. Thousands of people are gathering in special parks to try the new adrenalin sport 30,5m above the ground. It involves people launching themselves off specially constructed wooden platforms in the treetops and swinging on a harness to another tree. Adventure parks in the country's Alpine mountains have reported a surge in visitor numbers as the craze grips the country this summer.

Rolf Ryser, manager and instructor at the Seilpark Gantrisch park just outside Bern, said: "People have changed the way they spend their leisure time. "They want new challenges, to become more active and do something to get their hearts beating faster." Enthusiast Jeannette Grindat said: "It demands full concentration so you don't have any time to think about how high you are, or what it would be like to fall. You're really pushed to the limit." - Ananova.com © Independent Online 2005.

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By 1970s, African setting had short shelf life for comics
By Gavin Ford ~ Star-Gazette ~ September 2, 2005
Long ago in a simpler time, an author by the name of Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote about a character named Tarzan who unbeknownst to the writer, would spawn a whole new genre with his literary creation.

By the 1930s and '40s, popular culture would be inundated with knockoffs of Burroughs' famous jungle lord. While all had a moderate degree of success, only one comics creation could be considered Tarzan's equal. Her name was Sheena, Queen of the Jungle.

Throughout the 1940s and '50s, Sheena was probably as well-known as her male counterpart. She even had a TV show in the 1950s that is still remembered by the children of the era.

By the 1960s, however, the whole jungle king or queen phenomenon was coming to a close. Africa was no longer a largely unexplored continent and the whole idea of a white person lording over the natives of the land became condescending, if not outright insulting. Changes had to be made in surviving characters and new creations had to be more sensitive to the issues of the times.

In the early 1970s, Marvel Comics decided to take a chance and create a new jungle character named Shanna the She-Devil. Born in Africa to a wealthy American diamond mine and farm owner, Shanna spent her early years living there before her mother's tragic accident caused the girl's father to send her to the United States.

She grew up to become a veterinarian and got a job at New York City's Central Park Municipal Zoo. The shooting of a leopard at the zoo became the catalyst for Shanna's return to Africa where she became the unofficial protector of animals at the Dahomey Reserve.

While well-intentioned, "Shanna the She-Devil" lasted a mere five issues. The character made sporadic appearances through the following decades and ended up marrying Ka-Zar who was another Marvel jungle character. They moved to an uncharted prehistoric land in Antarctica called the "Savage Land" and pretty much lived happily ever after, except for times when writers and artists attempted new and mostly unsuccessful series.

In 2004, writer artist Frank Cho once again revived the character of Shanna for a new Marvel miniseries. Throwing out everything but the name, Shanna was now a genetic creation of Nazi scientists who was discovered in a laboratory in an unnamed part of the world. The people who discover her start succumbing to a virus and Shanna and a group of survivors must reach the cure while fighting off the dinosaurs that inhabit the land.

While the story is kind of generic, the artwork alone makes this series worth the price of admission. Frank Cho has always been known for the beautiful women he draws and it's obvious that he enjoys his work.

The series is being collected into an affordable hardcover in November and can be ordered at your local comics store. Some stores may still have copies of the individual issues.

Dinosaurs, evil Nazi experiments, and a beautiful jungle girl. These are the things that a fanboy's dreams are made of.

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Tarzan Yell Contest
Fernandinadina Beach, Florida
Each day will feature an event at the Chamber’s downtown Depot lawn according to that date’s historical attribute. To commemorate Sept. 1st as Edgar Rice Burroughs’ birthday, a “Tarzan Yell” contest will be held. For each day’s event, call 904-261-3248

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A fitting monument to Rowling
By Jay Ambrose
July 29, 2005 ~ Daily Breeze ~ Los Angeles
Let's do something in appreciation of J.K. Rowling . . . Instead of a 50-foot statue of the author, read to your children, take them to the library, buy them good books and support public education. . . . I've got an idea: . . . 
I once heard a California professor say there was nothing more important in the intellectual development of a child than reading. . . . .
Then, in that dark, dusty attic, I happened on an Edgar Rice Burroughs series on Tarzan. It doesn't get better. This Tarzan was not the Tarzan of film. I do not recall ever seeing in a movie what I encountered in the opening pages of Jungle Tales of Tarzan, namely, a youthful Tarzan looking with lust on Teeka, a she-ape. He fairly quickly gets over the infatuation, as I recall, but it took me a long time to get over my eagerness to read about Tarzan. I guess you could say he was my Harry Potter. But just as the readers of these Potter books will discover other literature, I did move on to such works as Walter Scott's Ivanhoe, Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island and Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer.  I could not have gone down this life-enlarging road if it had not been for a demanding first-grade teacher and my book-adoring mother, herself a schoolteacher and later a school librarian. 

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Cover art: Tarzan Special Edition
Animated-News.com ~ September 2, 2005
 In answer to complaints that the Tarzan Special Edition DVD's original cover art was too 'cartoony', Disney has upgraded the design to embrace a slightly more mature style. Ultimate Disney has the new cover artwork for the Tarzan Special Edition DVD, due for release on October 18th.
 
 

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The Films of Ehren Kruger
UGO's Culture Dish ~ August 12th, 2005 by Tom Burns 
August is a huge month for screenwriter Ehren Kruger, thanks to two major studio releases, The Skeleton Key and The Brothers Grimm, and the DVD release of The Ring Two. In addition to pleasing genre audiences, all three pictures represent Kruger's growing reputation as Hollywood's go-to-guy when it comes to developing fanboy-friendly film properties.  In an attempt to quantify the impact of Kruger's films, I've developed a rating system to gauge fanboy appeal - The Roddenberry Scale: . . . 
Arlington Road - 3 out of 10 
Scream 3: 6 
Reindeer Games: 2 
The Ring: 8 
The Ring Two: 5 
Skeleton Key: 6 
The Brothers Grimm: 9 
Blood and Chocolate (upcoming): 7 
The Talisman (upcoming) Rating: Off the scale... 1.21 Gigawatts! 

John Carter of Mars (upcoming) - An adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs' classic tales of a Civil War veteran who becomes the Flash Gordon of the Red Planet. Robert Rodriguez was once attached, but it now belongs to writer Kerry Conran, who gave us the retro CGI-fest Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. 
Roddenberry Rating: 9 

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'Pigs is Pigs' Turns 100: Famous Story Still Going Strong 
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 12, 2005--www.EllisParkerButler.Info is celebrating September 2005 as the 100th anniversary of the publication of "Pigs is Pigs," arguably one of the most famous short stories of the pulp fiction era. "Pigs is Pigs," written by Ellis Parker Butler, an author and a speaker well known in his time and often billed as "America's Leading Humorist," is a humorous tale in which a bureaucratic stationmaster insists on levying the livestock rate for a shipment of two pet guinea pigs that soon start proliferating geometrically. 

 Born on December 5, 1869, in Muscatine, Iowa, Butler's career spanned more than forty years. His stories, poems and articles were published in more than 225 different magazines and appeared alongside that of his contemporaries including Mark Twain, Sax Rohmer, James B. Hendryx, Berton Braley, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Don Marquis, Will Rogers and Edgar Rice Burroughs. Despite the enormous volume of his work, Ellis Parker Butler was, for most of his life, only a part-time author. He worked full-time as a banker and was very active in the local New York City and Queens communities. 

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John Carter of Mars Director Kerry Conran Biography ~ Photos ~ Contact
The Kerry Conran Picture Pages
Contact: Creative Artists Agency ~ 9830 Wilshire Boulevard ~ Beverly Hills, California 90212-1825

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Necessary compromise fuels Tree Studios renovation 
Chicago Sun-Times By Kevin Nance ~ August 14, 2005
The most remarkable thing these days about Tree Studios in downtown Chicago isn't its rich history as one of the oldest artist colonies in the country. Or that so many famous people -- from artists John Storrs, Ruth Duckworth and J. Allen St. John (illustrator of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan novels) to actors Peter Falk, Burgess Meredith and Charles Laughton -- once lived there. Or that it's a low-slung, human-scaled building nestled in a thicket of high-rises. The most striking fact about Tree Studios in 2005? It's still standing.  On the verge of demolition five years ago, the then-deteriorated complex bounded by State, Ohio and Ontario streets -- built by Judge Lambert Tree and his wife, Anna, as a way to tempt artists drawn by 1893's World's Columbian Exposition to remain in Chicago -- is now in the final stages of a handsome but controversial restoration. . . .

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Interview with Jeffrey Keenan, author of Benning's War
blogcritics.org/
. . . You write both historical fiction and science fiction. How do you explain these diverse genres existing in your mind at the same time?
My love of reading was born in science fiction. As a child, I hated to read. My father bought me Edgar Rice Burroughs The Moon Maid and The Moon Men and I was hooked. I read every science fiction novel my father had. He bought Analog magazine every month and I devoured that as well. . . .

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Food and fun, Tarzan style
Food and Drink Review: Dzsungel Restaurant and Café, District VI
www.budapesttimes.hu
Budapest ~ August 15, 2005: In the Dzsungel Café near Nyugati railway station you could almost forget the main reason for visiting a restaurant - the food - because of its unique atmosphere that is true to theme. The almost novel-like menu of the Dzsungel Restaurant leaves no doubt about the restaurant’s theme: here everything revolves around the world of Tarzan, Jane, Mowgli and Balu. 

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Tarzan Seeks Title Player in Open Call
Playbill News by Andrew Gans ~ August 17, 2005
An open call for the title role of the new Broadway musical Tarzan will be held Aug. 29 at the Here Arts Center. "We're looking for exciting new talent for the starring role in Disney's next Broadway musical, Tarzan," reads a casting notice. The musical is slated for a 2006 Broadway berth at a theatre to be announced. No casting has been set, although the musical will boast a company of 34. The role of Tarzan is described thusly: 

"A thrilling pop/rock singer to play in his 20s. Caught between the world of gorillas and the world of humans, Tarzan is a human raised by a family of apes in the African jungle. We must identify with him and care about him and his emotional journey. He is charming, sexy, vulnerable, animal-like, mysterious, and has lots of humanity. He is physically lean but toned, like a swimmer; he is not a muscle man as in the traditional Tarzan type. He should have strong upper body strength and be physical, agile, fearless, and very comfortable with movement and tackling aerial work. His body must be at one with the environment."

Those auditioning should prepare 16 bars of a contemporary/pop rock song showing vocal range. Auditioners may be asked to sing without accompaniment, although sheet music should be available if needed. Bring a photo (snapshot is okay) and resume.

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Always a Starry Night at SMC Planetarium
Santa Monica News By Ann Williams 
August 16 -- On September 2 just after sunset, you’ll be able to see Jupiter just after it passes below Venus in the Western sky -- even if it’s a cloudy night. That’s because Santa Monica College’s popular Friday night astronomy series is bringing the night sky indoors as it kicks off a new season. “The Night Sky Show” is the first act every Friday at 7 p.m. at the John Drescher Planetarium. Feature shows and guest lectures on the history and future of space exploration and up-to-date scientific explanations about our strange and spectacular universe follow at 8 p.m. . . .

. . . Edgar Rice Burroughs fans won’t want to miss the latest on the mission to map the Red Planet by JPL Project Scientist for Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Richard Zureck, who will speak on November 18. . . .

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Age of wonder: Jack Williamson
By Ollie Reed, Jr. ~ The Albuquerque Tribune ~ August 19, 2005
At 97, sci-fi master Jack Williamson has a new book out. Don't expect more, he says. But, then again, his imagination knows no outer limits. . . . No other living American has more right to the title dean of science fiction writers than does 97-year-old Williamson, whose career stretches from the pulp era through the digital age. . . .  His first published story, "The Metal Man," appeared in Amazing Stories magazine in 1928. Seventy-three years later, he won science fiction's top awards - the Nebula, from the Science Fiction Writers of America, and the Hugo, from members of the World Science Fiction Convention - for "The Ultimate Earth," a novella. . . . In the spring of 1926, the year after Williamson graduated from Richland High School, 30 miles south of Portales, something happened that would determine the course of his life. Editor Hugo Gernsback launched his magazine Amazing Stories, containing tales by Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, Edgar Rice Burroughs and the elaborately written yarns of A. Merritt. Gernsback called these tales, which were set among lost civilizations or on faraway planets and moons, "scientifiction," but they are the same kind of story we label science fiction today.  Amazing Stories offered Williamson hope he could make a living selling his daydreams. Between chores, he busied himself writing, and in 1928, Amazing Stories accepted "The Metal Man." . . . .

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2 cubs fill void ex-Tarzan felt over tiger
By Maya Bell ~ Orlando Sentinel ~ August 21, 2005
LOXAHATCHEE -- Steve Sipek still wears grief like a heavy overcoat a year after a wildlife officer shot and killed his escaped tiger, Bobo, igniting a torrent of outrage. His massive shoulders sag. His bright-blue eyes suddenly shed tears. But just as suddenly, the retired actor who played Tarzan in B movies brightens and sings a ditty he wrote about the two new loves in his life:
Bo and Little Bo ~ The 3-month-old tiger cubs are asleep on the floor when Sipek cracks open the door of his jungle-motif bedroom and coos like the proudest of new papas. . . . Bo and Little Bo -- Bengal-Siberian mixes like their beloved namesake -- are lifelines pulling Sipek back from the depths of despair. They are not unlike the lion that rescued him from a burning movie set 35 years ago, kindling his love affair with exotic cats. The 26-pound cubs also are ready for showtime as the star attractions of Tarzan's Big Cat Sanctuary, Sipek's latest plan to fill the gaping hole in his heart.
He says he must open his 5-acre compound in the secluded Palm Beach County neighborhood of Loxahatchee Groves to the public, inviting in the very beings he has spent much of his life avoiding: People. . . . 
Sipek suspects an angry former girlfriend coaxed Bobo out of the house and left a series of cages and gates open the afternoon of July 12, 2004, when the 600-pound cat greeted a startled mail carrier on C Road with a swipe of his declawed paw. . . . 

.
Danton Interview on Land That Time Forgot (1975) DVD Release
The 1975 film version of ERB's The Land That Time Forgot, starring Doug McClure and Susan Penhaligon with James Cawthorn and Michael Moorcock credited as co-writers, has been released on DVD in England. A special bonus on the disc is a 12-minute segment titled "The Master of Adventure." This is a behind the scenes look at the making of LTF which includes a visit to the offices of ERB, Inc. where a young Danton Burroughs is being interviewed. 

Submitted by UK Correspondent Laurence Dunn

Ed. Note: Watch for the Hallmark 4-hour adaptation of Burroughs' LAND THAT TIME FORGOT slated for release in Summer 2006. This adaptation is set in modern times.

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Ice lake found on the Red Planet 
BBC News ~ July 29, 2005
A giant patch of frozen water has been pictured nestled within an unnamed impact crater on Mars. The photographs were taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera on board Mars Express, the European Space Agency probe which is exploring the planet. The ice disc is located on Vastitas Borealis, a broad plain that covers much of Mars' far northern latitudes. The existence of water on Mars raises the prospect that past or present life will one day be detected. It also boosts the chances that manned missions can eventually be sent to the Red Planet. 

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Spanish Tarzan Steve Sipek moves on after mourning Bobo
By Mark Schwed Cox News Service
Chicago Tribune ~ July 28 2005
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- For the first time in a long time, Steve Sipek -- the Spanish Tarzan -- isn't eaten up with rage. As if to prove it, he puts on his loincloth for a little show. He pumps his muscles, puffs out his broad chest and stands statue-stiff beside the grave of his beloved tiger Bobo. A year ago this month the 600-pound Bengal-Siberian tiger was sprawled in a pool of his own blood, shot dead by a young wildlife officer who said he feared for his life. . . . Sipek called them murderers. That night, as news of Bobo's death spread, dozens of people -- men, women and schoolchildren -- gathered at Sipek's front gate to mourn. . . . Inconsolable in the weeks after Bobo's death, Sipek, 63, locked his massive iron gates -- the ones with the smiling lion and pouncing tiger etched in them -- and remained in virtual seclusion. But the hard times were just beginning. A fire gutted his home, then two hurricanes finished what the fire missed. His 22-year-old cougar Missy and his 22-year-old lion Elvis died. He spent months living in a garage, converting a bathroom into a makeshift kitchen, while his home was repaired, his trees replanted, his cages redesigned. It cost him $60,000 to fix his home and $50,000 to rebuild the cages. Just four weeks ago, he plunked down $3,200 and purchased two tiger cubs. He named them Bo and Little Bo. . . . . "He's much better now," says Janette Monashkin, who has been volunteering at Sipek's compound since Bobo was shot. "It's love that did it. There's nothing like tiger love." . . . . "He's never going to get over what happened to Bobo," says Monashkin, the volunteer. "But the cubs give him such joy. Words can't describe it. They steal your heart quickly." . . .  They say God does not respond to every tragedy. You have to bring it to his attention. I brought Bobo's attention to him, I believe."
(See the previous Sipek news stories in our News Archive)

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Distant object found orbiting Sun 
BBC News ~ July 29, 2005
Astronomers have found a large object in the Solar System's outer reaches. It is being hailed as "a great discovery".  Details of the object are still sketchy. It never comes closer to the Sun than Neptune and spends most of its time much further out than Pluto. It is one of the largest objects ever found in the outer Solar System and is almost certainly made of ice and rock. It is at least 1,500km (930 miles) across and may be larger than Pluto, which is 2,274km (1,400 miles) across. 

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Princess of Mars and Star Trek XII: Paramount Scouts Australian locations
TrekWeb.com ~ July 22, 2005
According to the latest issue of STAR TREK Magazine, just out in the UK, Paramount bosses have hinted that the prequel may be filmed in Australia, according to a claim made by the Premier of South Australia, Mike Rann, when he opened the Australian Star Trek convention, Terra Nova, back in April
.
"Mr Rann had been with Paramount Pictures executives at a dinner in Adelaide the day before our convention," Stuart Blair, President of the United Federation of Planets Fan Club of South Australia told Star Trek Magazine. Although that meeting was primarily about Paramount's upcoming film of Edgar Rice Burroughs' PRINCESS OF MARS, Paramount execs apparently also revealed they were also considering shooting the next STAR TREK film in Australia 

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Disney skaters confident about Beijing adventures 
BEIJING, July 27 -- After the success of "The 100 Years of Magic show" in China last year, Disney wants to test the waters a little more this year.  For the first time ever, Disney On Ice brings together three of its most popular animated hits—The Jungle Book, Tarzan and The Lion King, which will be staged from August 2nd to 7th at the Workers Gymnasium. 

The director and leading actors from this year's show "Jungle Adventures" met with Chinese audience at a small-scale press conference in Beijing on Tuesday. Director Melodee Clysdale says she combined the three stories in one, using the story of Timon and Pumbaa. They characters emerge at the beginning of the show from the Jungle looking for a perfect place for their home. The story combines elements of the Jungle Book, Tarzan and the Lion King in this show. Leading actor Stephane Morel, who plays Tarzan in the show, is a skater from the French National Team. Asked why he chose to act Tarzan Stephane Morel said: 

"The reason we choose Tarzan and Jane because we were physical capable. We were trained to learn acrobatics. We are not afraid of heights and we want to learn something new. We have very intense training of 8 hours a day."  At last, the director explained that the settings for the show in Beijing are almost the same with in Hangzhou and Shanghai last year except the sizes. She promised that audiences will see an innovative combination of world-class figure skating and amazing athleticism. 

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Coming October 18, 2005: Disney Tarzan Special Edition
Wild with exotic adventure and laughs, Disney’s TARZAN® is a magnificent, animated adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ classic story of the ape man. Raised by a family of gorillas, including the loving Kala and the wisecracking Terk, Tarzan develops all the instincts and prowess of a jungle animal. But with the sudden appearance of Tarzan’s own kind, including the beautiful Jane, two very different worlds become one. Driven by five powerful songs from pop superstar Phil Collins, including the Academy Award® winning “You’ll Be In My Heart” (Best Song, 1999), Disney’s TARZAN® delivers incredible adventure as well as important reminders about acceptance and family. EXTRAS:Terk’s Tree Surfing Challenge (NEW) ~ Three separate games in one, with increased difficulty in each game. Included are “Jungle Memory,” “Banana Round Up,” and “Clayton’s Trap.”  ~ Disneypedia: Living In The Jungle (NEW) Learn about elephants, gorillas, baboons, and leopards in this fun and educational DisneyPedia. See how the real-life animals compare to their animated counterparts. ~ “Strangers Like Me” music video performed by Everlife (NEW)  ~ “You’ll Be In My Heart” music video performed by Phil Collins  ~ “Strangers Like Me” music video performed by Phil Collins ~ “Trashin’ The Camp” studio session with Phil Collins and ‘N Sync ~ Deleted scenes ~ Alternate opening ~ Filmmaker audio commentary

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Lightning Strikes MMA ~ July 25, 2005

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Laurence Dunn and Buzz Brown report that that lightning recently struck the Academic Building  of MMA dislodging several bricks close to the 1882 headstone near the top of the building. Buzz Brown  gave a talk on the former Michigan Military Academy - now known as St. Mary's College - at the 2000 Dum-Dum.

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Shuler Hensley Likely for Broadway's Tarzan

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Playbill News ~ July 21, 2005
Shuler Hensley, who will be seen Off-Broadway next month in The Great American Trailer Park Musical, has been offered a role in the upcoming Disney musical Tarzan.On the actor's official website, Hensley says, "I have been offered the role of Kerchak (the grey-black gorilla and Tarzan father) for Disney's upcoming musical version of Tarzan. It will be a huge production complete with jungle and a Phil Collins score. Should be great! It will open on Broadway this spring."
No official casting of Tarzan has been announced. Phil Collins, who penned the score for Disney's animated "Tarzan" film, has written several additional songs for the stage version. The musical will also feature a book by David Henry Hwang, adapted from the film's screenplay by Tab Murphy, Bob Tzudiker and Noni White and based on the novel "Tarzan of the Apes" by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

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Disney's Tarzan II A Best Seller in VHS and DVD

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Old Tiger Press
Old Tiger Press reports that their J. Allen St. John biography (Volume 1) was the top seller at lulu.com a couple of weeks ago, and at the same time was their # 25 all time best seller that week.  THE LIFE AND WORK OF J. ALLEN ST. JOHN by Darrell C. Richardson is still available for $29.95 and highly recommended. 

The second volume in the St. John series will focus on the western illustrations of St. John.  Darrell Richardson is working on the text for two other volumes - one will be a collection of material on St. John's ERB work, with pieces by Vern Coriell, Stan Vinson, and other ERB  and St. John collector's and experts, the other will consist of memories of St. John by his students.  Both will be lavishly illustrated and in color.  The western book and at least one of the other two will come out this year, and in December, Old Tiger Press will bring out the 100th anniversary reprint of St. John's only book, THE FACE IN THE POOL.

Old Tiger Press is also working on some other projects for this year, including a collection of Otis Adelbert Kline's Dragoman stories, which were originally slated for publication by FAX books in the seventies.  They even commisioned art from Steve Fabian.

One project Old Tiger Press is particularly excited about is THE TARZAN SCRAPBOOK.  This was a title announced by FAX in the seventies, but Dennis McHaney became gung ho over a totally different set of contents a few weeks ago while going through Darrell Richardson's collection of Tarzan related movie material.  What the world needs is a multi volume set of repros of Tarzan movie posters and related material from around the world covering the entire history of Tarzan films.  McHaney reports he was staggered by the selection of material available for this project. Be prepared to be STUNNED by that first volume.

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Disney DVD News:
July 19, 2005 - Disney has unveiled artwork from a number of this fall's upcoming DVDs. Shameless double dipping or a noble effort to reach customers who haven't had luck finding the previously released DVDs? Either way you look at it, Disney will be reissuing modern day animated film Tarzan . . . in a new edition on October 18th. So far, details are sparse, but listings at Amazon ensure that Tarzan will be a 2-disc Special Edition.

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New season: Theatre Royal, Bury St Ed. 
EDP24.com ~ Norfolk, England ~ July 15, 2005
 The Christmas show will be Tarzan - A Jungle Pantomime. Based on Edgar Rice Burroughs' classical tale, the newly-written adaptation will run from December 8 to January 8 2006 at the Theatre Royal Big Top in Nowton Park. 

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Ubisoft's Official King Kong Hands On Site
The graphics look like something out of a Edgar Rice Burroughs book. The jungle appears almost hand-painted, fog drifting along the ground and creatures skittering around. Sitting in the screening room looking up at the movie-like game I felt like I was 7 again watching a Saturday morning matinee of King Kong or The Land that Time Forgot. I can’t wait for this to come out. It’s gonna be hot. 

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PARAMOUNT PICKS MOORE
Revolution exec replaces Friedman
Variety.com ~ July 14, 2005
Brad Grey has tapped Revolution Studios partner Rob Moore to become Paramount Pictures' president of worldwide marketing, distribution and operations as the studio's massive makeover kicks into high gear. 

Mars in Pop Culture: Literature 
Red Nova News ~ July 3, 2005
Astrobiology Magazine -- Why is it that people tend to talk of "Martians," rather than, say, "Saturnians" or "Jovians," when the topic of extraterrestrial life is broached? Historically, Mars was thought to be the most likely of the planets to harbor life. Popular culture in the form of literature, and then later radio and film, reflected such beliefs. . . .
Public fascination with Martians began in the late 19th century when, in 1877, astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli reported observations of large canali (meaning "channels") on Mars. . . . 
 In 1897, H. G. Wells's "The War of the Worlds" was the first major work to explore the concept of the extraterrestrial invader. . . .  astronomers such as Percival Lowell seriously countenanced the possibility of advanced lifeforms as described in his book, "Mars as the Abode of Life" (1910). . . .

By looking at how Mars is represented in literature, radio and film, we can see how it has inspired human imagination, sometimes in rather peculiar ways. The following is a review of Mars in the history of literature:
Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels (1726)
Read Gulliver's Travels online: 
Herbert G. Wells, The War of the Worlds (serialized: 1897; book: 1898) 
The whole text of "The War of the Worlds" is available online:
Edgar Rice Burroughs - The Martian Tales
Perhaps better known as the creator of "Tarzan of the Apes," Edgar Rice Burroughs also wrote westerns and science fiction - a total of 97 stories. Burroughs's series of Mars novels, also known as "The Martian Tales," is comprised of eleven novels which describe the adventures of a nineteenth century Confederate Civil War veteran (like Burroughs's father) named John Carter who is transported to Mars, where he must adapt to its strange cultures. 
Carter, as a classic fictional hero, frequently encounters life-threatening situations which he only narrowly escapes. Carter marries, has children, rises to the top of Martian politics, and there fights for justice. His noble actions reflect Burroughs's personal moral beliefs. Burroughs, like many other writers, envisions a dying Mars with oceans that are drying up and constantly warring kingdoms fighting desperately against the peril of a vanishing atmosphere and against each other.
From "A Princess on Mars" (written in 1911, first published hardback in 1917):
"I opened my eyes upon a strange and weird landscape. I knew that I was on Mars; not once did I question either my sanity or my wakefulness. I was not asleep, no need for pinching here; my inner consciousness told me as plainly that I was upon Mars as your conscious mind tells you that you are upon Earth. You do not question the fact; neither did I." 
The often used phrase "little green men" to refer to aliens may have come from Burroughs's first book on Mars, "A Princess on Mars." He describes the "green men of Mars," and they reappear frequently in his other Martian novels. Still, he never uses the exact phrase. 
The Oxford English Dictionary's first reference for "little green man" is from Kipling's "Puck of Pook's Hill" (1906). Its use here refers to an actual person who has been tattooed green, and so although it coins the phrase "little green man," it does not appear to be a reference to aliens. The next OED reference to "little green men" is not until 1961, from Partridge's Dictionary of Slang: "Little green men, mysterious beings alleged to have been seen emerging from flying saucers." 
Burroughs's works can be accessed at the ERBzine.com site:
Ray Bradbury - The Martian Chronicles (1951, also published as "The Silver Locusts") 
For further information, see: The Martian Chronicles Study Guide and The Ray Bradbury Page.
Robert Heinlein - Stranger in a Strange Land (1961)
Kim Stanley Robinson - Red Mars (1993), Green Mars (1995), Blue Mars (1997). 

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Tony Winner Shuler Hensley Tapped for Tarzan Musical
Broadway.com ~ July 3, 2005
Tony winner Shuler Hensley is in talks to play the gorilla Kerchak in the upcoming musical version of Tarzan. Hensley is best known for his portrayal of the sinister farmhand Jud Fry in Oklahoma!. He also appeared on Broadway as Javert in Les Miserables. Hensley's other stage credits include the title role in the German production of The Phantom of the Opera, The Most Happy Fella, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and leading roles in the operas Don Giovanni, La Boheme and Carmen. Hensley recently appeared in two films. He played the Frankenstein Monster in Van Helsing and has the role of Pike in The Legend of Zorro (which will be released on October 28). Before Tarzan, Hensley will play Norbert, a toll collector with a taste for infidelity, in the off-Broadway tuner The Great American Trailer Park Musical. 

Tarzan will feature a book by David Henry Hwang adapted from the film's screenplay by Tab Murphy, Bob Tzudiker and Noni White and based on the novel, Tarzan of the Apes, by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Phil Collins, who provided songs for the film, will write the score for the stage Tarzan. In the story, Kerchak is a father figure to Tarzan and one of the leaders of the jungle creatures.

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Tarzan is expected to bow on Broadway in spring 2006. 
This is not the Ape Man's first venture onto the Broadway stage.
His first appearance was at the Broadhurst Theatre in 1921. 
Read about it this appearance and its stars in ERBzine:
http://www.erbzine.com/mag7/0706.html
and
http://www.erbzine.com/mag6/0607.html

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War of the Worlds review in the Washington Post
 

 
Disney's Tarzan Confirmed for Spring '06 Opening 
Broadway World ~ June 29, 2005 
Disney's Broadway musical adaptation of the animated film Tarzan has now been confirmed for a spring 2006 opening, with the creative team set for the show. 

Disney Presents Tarzan, which will feature a cast of 34 and will play at a theatre to be announced, will be helmed by two-time Tony Award-winner Bob Crowley (Aida, Carousel), who will also design the sets and costumes. Phil Collins, who has received six Grammys for his work as a rock musician, will expand upon his score for the film in writing the music and lyrics for the show, while Tony Award-winner David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly, Aida) is set to adapt the show's book from the film's script; the latter was penned by Tab Murphy, Bob Tzudiker and Noni White. 

The acclaimed Australian choreographer Meryl Tankard has also been enlisted for the show while Pichon Baldinu (De La Guarda) is set to handle the Aerial Movement. Tony Award-winner Natasha Katz (Aida, The 25th Annual Putnam County Bee) will be the show's lighting designer, with John Shivers (Hairspray, The Producers) as the sound designer.

Tarzan, which is based upon Edgar Rice Burroughs' novel Tarzan of the Apes, tells how a vine-swinging feral man raised by gorillas learns English and civility under the tutelage of a beautiful English woman named Jane. A pop culture fixture since it debuted in 1912, Tarzan has spawned comics, TV shows and films such as the 1930s series that starred Johnny Weismuller. The 1999 Disney film featured the voices of Tony Goldwyn, Glenn Close, Minnie Driver and Rosie O'Donnell, with Collins' "You'll Be In My Heart" winning the Academy Award for Best Original Song.

While the musical has not yet been cast, a January 2004 workshop of the show featured Matthew Morrison as the adult Tarzan and Laura Bell Bundy as Jane, with Will Chase, Chris Fitzgerald, Anika Larsen, Alton White and others also included in the cast.  Disney Theatrical Productions, whose past Broadway smashes include Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King and Aida, is also working on a Broadway-bound production of The Little Mermaid, with the London hit Mary Poppins also set to cross the pond. 

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Coming In October from Dark Horse Comics
Tarzan: The Joe Kubert Years Volume 1
Beginning with this first volume, Dark Horse's hardcover series reprints Kubert's entire Tarzan work. Joe Kubert's Tarzan, Volume One, reprints issues 207 through 214 of the 1970s run, featuring "Origin of the Ape Man" (a bold adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs' first Tarzan novel), "Jungle Tales of Tarzan," and other stories inspired by Burroughs' books-all written and drawn by the legendary Joe Kubert!
Hard Cover ~ 200 pages, Full color, 6 1/4" x 10 1/4" 
For ordering information see:
ERBzine.com/swag or Tarzan.com/emporium

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The "Disney Adventures Comic Zone" for summer 2005 has a Tarzan II comic story in it.
In celebration of their 50th anniversary Disney has come up with a 50 pin series called "Magical Milestones." There is one pin for each year from 1955 to 2005. The year of interest here is
1999 which is Tarzan's Treehouse.

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War of the Worlds: Official Paramount and Dreamworks Pictures Web site:
www.waroftheworlds.com
Reviews
Variety
CHUD: Cinematic Happenings Under Development

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"Princess of Mars" Franchise Eyes Oz 
Encore Magazine - Australia ~ June 22, 2005
Australia’s outback locations have shown up on the radar of the producers of the VFX-laden sci-fi adventure John Carter of Mars, who are believed to have earmarked an Australian shoot for the developing project.

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Brad Pitt's Plan B shingle lands new home at Paramount
Variety.com ~ June 23, 2005
The town's two Brads are back in business. Paramount Pictures has inked a three-year first-look deal with Plan B, the production shingle founded by Brad Grey, Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston. Par deal marks the end of Plan B's first-look pact with Warner Bros. Pictures.

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Lions Rescue Kidnapped Ethiopian Girl
CBC News: by Anthony Mitchell ~ June 24, 2005
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) - Police say three lions rescued a 12-year-old girl kidnapped by men who wanted to force her into a marriage, chasing off her abductors and guarding her until police and relatives tracked her down in a remote corner of Ethiopia. The men had held the girl for seven days, repeatedly beating her, before the lions scared them off. The big cats guarded her for half a day before her family and police found her, Sgt. Wondimu Wedajo said Tuesday by telephone from the provincial capital of Bita Genet, some 560 kilometres west of the country's capital, Addis Ababa. 
"They stood guard until we found her and then they just left her like a gift and went back into the forest," Wondimu said. 
Stuart Williams, a wildlife expert with the rural development ministry, said the young girl likely was saved because she was crying from the trauma of her attack. "A young girl whimpering could be mistaken for the mewing sound from a lion cub, which in turn could explain why (the lions) didn't eat her. Otherwise they probably would have." News of the June 9 rescue was slow to filter out from Kefa Zone in southwestern Ethiopia. "If the lions had not come to her rescue then it could have been much worse," Wondimu said. "Often these young girls are raped and severely beaten to force them to accept the marriage." The girl, the youngest of four siblings, was "shocked and terrified" and had to be treated for injuries from the beatings, the police sergeant said. He said police had caught four suspects but were still looking for three others. In Ethiopia, kidnapping has long been part of the marriage custom, a tradition of sorrow and violence whose origins are murky. The United Nations estimates that more than 70 per cent of marriages in Ethiopia are by abduction, practised in rural areas where the majority of the country's 71 million people live. Ethiopia's lions, famous for their large black manes, are the country's national symbol, and adorn statues and the country's currency. Former emperor Haile Selassie kept a pride of lions in the royal palace in Addis Ababa. Despite their integral place in Ethiopian culture, their numbers have been falling, experts say, as farmers encroach on bush land. Hunters also kill the animals for their skins - which can fetch $1,000 US- despite a recent crackdown against illegal animal trading across the country. Williams said that at most, only 1,000 Ethiopian lions remain in the wild. 

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View the King Kong pre-release trailer
The film is slated for release in December 2005

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Former Tarzan ~ Denny Miller ~ At Carmichael's Bookstore
The Courier-Journal - Louisville, Kentucky ~ June 23, 2005
Actor Denny Miller, who played the lead role in the 1959 movie "Tarzan, The Ape Man," is on a book tour promoting his Hollywood memoir, "Didn't You Used to Be What's His Name?" Miller, who portrayed Duke Shannon on the TV series "Wagon Train," will sign copies of his book at 7 tonight at Carmichael's Bookstore, 2720 Frankfort Ave. Miller, by the way, played basketball at UCLA under coach John Wooden. One of his teammates and a lifelong friend just happens to be Denny Crum. His book features anecdotes about his work with such actors as Katharine Hepburn, Bette Davis, Peter Sellers, Charles Bronson, Bob Hope, Sidney Poitier and Lucille Ball.

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Tarzan Script by John August
ComingSoon.net
John August, who wrote the screenplay both for "Charlie" and Burton's last film Big Fish, also had written a script based on Edgar Rice Burroughsl "Tarzan," which he hopes will get made someday. He didn't have a personal choice on who to play the part, but he said that once they find a director, they'll start looking for an actor to take on the role made famous on film by Johnny Weissmuller, Gordon Scott and Christopher Lambert. "A lesson learned from Charlie was that having an amazing director and an amazing actor on board really gets the ball rolling," he told us. "We have a good script and now we need all those other elements, so I don't know if it's going to happen." In the meantime, August is working with Jerry Bruckheimer's company to produce a big screen adaptation of the popular video game Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, which will be written by the game's creator Jordan Mechner. "It's the first project I've been on board which I haven't written," he said. "It's going to be one of those insanely expensive Pirates of the Caribbean scale movies."

To make sure the lovely characters all speak Chinese, Disney specially invited 24 Chinese artists to dub for the performance this year, since the show last year was criticized for being dominated by Taiwan accents. An English version will also be scheduled on August 5th for foreign residents and fans¡ªor whoever wants to have a taste of the unadulterated original. Aside from having incredible sets, world class skaters and award-winning music, Jungle Adventures promises to be the most thrilling Disney On Ice show to date, featuring fun-loving characters from The Lion King such as Timon and Pumbaa, Tarzan and Jane's daring ice debut and Jungle Book score completely remastered to a hip new swing beat. 

Featuring Academy Award winning songs, like "You'll Be In My Heart" sung by Phil Collins, " Can You Feel the Love Tonight." and a remastered Jungle Book score that inspires hilarious, stomp-style numbers like "I Wanna Be Like You" and "The Bare Necessities," will undoubtedly bring audiences to their feet. Audiences will see an innovative combination of world-class figure skating and amazing athleticism when Tarzan and Jane make ice show history performing the daring Spanish web routine where they expertly navigate the swaying greenery and swing from vines high above the ice. Come and share this exciting adventure with your friends and family! Tickets for the show are on sale, and ticket prices range from 80 yuan, US$10 to 500 yuan, over US$60. Fans are also encouraged to discover more about Disney On Ice and win tickets to the show by visiting www.crienglish.com. 

 
"Cezanne of the Apes" outsells Renoir
National Post/Associated Press ~ June 20, 2005
A 1957 painting and two others by a chimpanzee named Congo sold for CDN$32,000 at Bonhams auction house in London yesterday, while works by Andy Warhol and August Renoir were withdrawn because of a lack of interest. Congo has been called "Cezanne of the Apes." 

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The Best Sports Nicknames
Orlandon Sentinel ~ June 21, 2005 
Babe Ruth (aka Sultan of Swat): He was commonly referred to as The Sultan of Swat and Bambino by the press and fans, but players called him Tarzan after the lead character in the Edgar Rice Burroughs novel.

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Tarzan artist Suydam at Heroes Con
Arthur Suydam will be a featured guest at Heroes Con 2005 in Charlotte, N.C. this next weekend, June 24-26. He has created a Batman poster exclusively for the convention, which will be given away at the door to everyone attending. 

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Tarzan of the Apes sells for $57,000
Rare Anne of Green Gables first edition auctioned for $24,000
CJAD Radio Website ~ Montreal ~ June 17, 2005
NEW YORK (CP) - A first edition of Lucy Maud Montgomery's classic Anne of Green Gables was auctioned off for $24,000 US at Sotheby's on Friday. . . .  One of the highest prices paid was $57,000 for a first edition of Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter from 1850. Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs went for $45,000. 

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'Teleporting' over the internet 
BBC News ~ 2005/06/17
Computer scientists in the US are developing a system which would allow people to "teleport" a solid 3D recreation of themselves over the internet.  Professors Todd Mowry and Seth Goldstein of Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania think that, within a human generation, we might be able to replicate three-dimensional objects out of a mass of material made up of small synthetic "atoms". Cameras would capture the movement of an object or person and then this data would be fed to the atoms, which would then assemble themselves to make up an exact likeness of the object. They came up with the idea based on "claytronics," the animation technique which involves slightly moving a model per frame to animate it. 

Fans of science fiction have long been interested in the idea of teleportation - where an object, or even a human being, is transported from one location to another instantaneously. Professor Goldstein has envisioned that, eventually, the objects will be built with "nano-dust" - tiny objects that can be programmed to bind to each other and move - but currently they are trying to build at a much larger scale, working with objects the size of table-tennis balls. 

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New model 'permits time travel' 
BBC News ~ 2005.06.17
If you went back in time and met your teenage parents, you could not split them up and prevent your birth - even if you wanted to, a new quantum model has stated. Researchers speculate that time travel can occur within a kind of feedback loop where backwards movement is possible, but only in a way that is "complementary" to the present. In other words, you can pop back in time and have a look around, but you cannot do anything that will alter the present you left behind. The new model, which uses the laws of quantum mechanics, gets rid of the famous paradox surrounding time travel. 
Paradox explained: Although the laws of physics seem to permit temporal gymnastics, the concept is laden with uncomfortable contradictions. The main headache stems from the idea that if you went back in time you could, theoretically, do something to change the present; and that possibility messes up the whole theory of time travel. Clearly, the present never is changed by mischievous time-travellers: people don't suddenly fade into the ether because a rerun of events has prevented their births - that much is obvious. So either time travel is not possible, or something is actually acting to prevent any backward movement from changing the present.
"You go back to kill your father, but you'd arrive after he'd left the room, you wouldn't find him, or you'd change your mind." ~ Professor Dan Greenberger, City University, New York 
So, if you know the present, you cannot change it. If, for example, you know your father is alive today, the laws of the quantum universe state that there is no possibility of him being killed in the past. . . . According to Einstein, space-time can curve back on itself, theoretically allowing travellers to double back and meet younger versions of themselves. . . .

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Who was the father of the American space Dream?
by George Reed ~ North Lake Tahoe Bonanza ~ June 17, 2005
 Sunday is Father's Day, a day to honor all fathers. But why should we honor just traditional fathers? Why not honor untraditional fathers such as those known as the "Father of... (Something)?" We could start with the father of the American space dream, the person most responsible for instilling in the American public the dream of traveling into space and paying to explore worlds beyond the earth. . . .  I believe the father of the American space dream should be Percival Lowell. Lowell devoted his life and financial resources to two projects. . . . 
He qualifies not because of what he did, but what he inspired others to do, and in particular Edgar Rice Burroughs. Science fiction writers have always had a stronger influence than science writers on the public's perception of space and space travel. Scientists are always limited by science. Science fiction writers are only limited by their imaginations. Edgar Rice Burroughs (the father of Tarzan) gave the martians names and forms in his pulp novels. He created the world of Barsoom and populated it with violent creatures of red and green with six and eight limbs. The success of Burroughs' space adventurer, John Carter, was followed by other space heroes like Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon in newspaper "funny pages," on movie screens and finally on TV screens. . . . 

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Tarzan in Ripley's Believe It or Not
June 18, 2005
"Tarzana, Calif. was named after Edgar Rice Burroughs' fictional Character -- Tarzan!"